Brownfields Update for the Pacific Northwest

This month, we revisit a Brownfield project in the eastern Washington city of Palouse, the recipient of an Integrated Planning Grant (IPG) awarded by the state Department of Ecology. The purpose of these grants is to help cities and other governmental bodies with the early planning and visioning stages of Brownfield redevelopment. They fund activities critical to moving a project past the starting point. This information can attract additional funding for cleanup and ultimately, position a site for redevelopment.

Integrated Planning Grants were created to assist communities with two major aspects of Brownfield projects. First, they fund assessments a city can use to perform due diligence on a property it is interested in acquiring where the kind and amount of contamination is not known. Secondly, the grant provides funding for creating a vision of what the end use for a Brownfield might be and integrating that vision into the overall community plan. Generally, an IPG incorporates Brownfield clean-up, community-building and economic development.

The Palouse Producers Brownfield site is a former bulk fuel facility and service station in the core of downtown Palouse on Main Street, adjacent to historic buildings and the Palouse River. Previous environmental investigations have revealed petroleum in the soil and groundwater. In 2009, the city was granted an IPG to further evaluate the site’s environmental conditions and investigate redevelopment opportunities.

In the summer of 2009, Palouse engaged an environmental consultant to begin work under the grant. The consultant’s work plan called for the project to be done in two phases. (Not to be confused with phase I and II environmental site assessments). Recently completed phase I consisted of an overall analysis of the community’s intrinsic assets, development trends within the community, opportunities for future development and how these components fit into a regulatory framework. The end result was an “existing conditions report” presented to the community at an October 2009 meeting attended by about 75 people.

Due to the emphasis of the IPG program on creating a consensus vision for redevelopment of a Brownfield site, community involvement is an important part of the project in Palouse. While creating the existing conditions report, the consultant engaged the community through a variety a means. Local high school students undertook research into historical records of the site, similar to that required for an environmental site investigation. Additionally, community members were interviewed about their vision for the site and how that vision might fit into long-term plans for downtown Palouse. The thriving proprietors of shops and boutiques in the area were consulted to ascertain how a vision for the downtown economy would complement the existing conditions.  All that information was incorporated into the first phase of the project.

Phase two of the project is just beginning and will proceed on two main tracks. On the technical side, the consultant will perform an in-depth on-site investigation to fill data gaps in an EPA Targeted Brownfield Assessment performed in 2008. As with most Brownfield sites, the nature and extent of the contamination will help determine its end use possibilities and position it for acquisition by the city. The chosen end use is anticipated to enhance the Palouse riverfront through improved connectivity with the downtown area, offering better public access and habitat restoration along the river.

The other track in this second phase of the project is at the heart of the “integrated planning” part of the IPG process: coupling economic analysis with a community vision to encourage momentum towards redevelopment.

Though the city’s vision for the site is a work in progress, City leaders consider their past successes in developing aspects of Main Street and the way it has developed on its own as the direction they would like to take. Over the years the city has been adept at finding grants and other support for downtown improvements, such as attractive street lights, a small park with public facilities, and storefront improvements that give Palouse an artistic, creative environment. The IPG work will bring together the experience of city leaders with local development with the broader regional experience of their consultant to create a professionally-guided vision for the future of the Brownfield site and the entire downtown.

Leaders anticipate that the additional assessment being done on the site, together with a solid vision for its reuse, will position Palouse to market the property for redevelopment that is consistent with the vision and end use determined by the citizens.

For more information on this project, contact:

Mayor Michael Echanove
Palouse City Hall
East 120 Main Street
P.O. Box 248
Palouse, WA 99161-0248
509-878-1811
echanove@palouse.com